Killer Coffee Cupcakes

I made these cupcakes this evening to share at an afternoon tea Tupperware party tomorrow.

Of course, we had to try them to make sure they were OK.

Trev declared them some of the best cupcakes he'd ever tasted!  He's a good man.

Coffee Cupcakes
125g butter, chopped, at room temperature
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 cups SR flour, sifted
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup strong black coffee, cooled

1.  Preheat oven to moderate, 180 oC.  Line a 12-hole muffin pan with paper patty cases.
2.  In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat butter and brown sugar together until light and creamy.
3.  Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Fold in flour alternatively with sour cream and coffee, beginning and ending with flour.  Spoon mixture into paper cases until 2/3 full.
4.  Bake for 20-25 minutes, until cooked when tested with a skewer.  Cool in pan for 5 minutes.  Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Icing
1 cup soft icing mixture, sifted
10g butter
2-3 tablespoons hot strong black coffee
12 pecans, to decorate

5.  Combine icing sugar and butter in a small heatproof bowl.  Stir in enough coffee to make a smooth paste.  Place over a saucepan of simmering water and heat gently, stirring, for 2-3 minutes until mixture is a spreadable consistency.  Spread over cooled cupcakes and top each with a pecan.

6.  Eat with a hot cuppa!!

I struggled a bit with the icing - I think I put in too much coffee too soon and then had to add nearly another cup of icing sugar to correct it.  Next time I'll be adding the coffee a teaspoon at a time!

Swooning

Look what arrived at my house today...

...purchased with credit card points, otherwise it would be very unlikely to be seen in my kitchen!!

It's lovely and shiny and I can't wait to test out its capabilities (once I've watched the accompanying DVD of course!!).

And on the crafting-front, I was well and truely drawn into the 40% off at Spotlight on the weekend.  I bought myself some lovely wool since I've been enjoying some knitting over the last month or so.  I found this wonderful 100% wool in a rainbow palette but I'm not sure what to make with it - something for Matilda, but what?  Any suggestions would be gratefully received.  I'm thinking maybe a Swing Thing or Tikki's Rainbow Dress.

I also had to tidy up my knitting drawer in order to fit in the new yarn and finished this vest just in time to fit Matilda.  I knitted it using a free Guardian Angel knitting pattern from several years ago.  I love the freebie patterns available through this Guardian Pharmacy campaign but have never found enough time to knit anything to donate.

Happy Easter!

I hope the Easter Bunny left his messy magic footprints at your house...

...as well as some chocolaty treats! 

We'll be overindulging on this banoffee pie after a lamb roast with the extended family at lunchtime today.

And I can't resist sharing the curious toddler footprint made this morning!!

Kids in the Kitchen for Easter

I saw this post the other day and knowing the forecast for today was intermitent rain decided to stock up on supplies.

We had friends join us and we got cooking which involved spreading some jam...

...and squishing marshmallows...

...and decorating with melted chocolate and copious amounts of 100's & 1000's...

...and then the all important testing!

I can highly recommend these yummy and easy Easter Wagon Wheels for cooking with your kiddos (and I think the kids would recommend it too!).

Perhaps if your kids are over 5 they may look more like easter eggs than ours do!!

We might give these another go next year - they would make a great alternative to chocolate eggs for extended family and friends and teachers and anyone else you may include on your easter list!!

Wishing you all a Happy Easter and I hope you get to enjoy some time with your families and friends.

Tea Leaves and Bruschetta!

I have really enjoyed my last couple of weeks away from work.

I have played at being the good "school mum", walking my daughter to and from school, meeting the teacher and other parents and all that starting school involves.

I have had time to sew all the things I have promised the childcare centre (two big sheer curtains for an indoor gazebo they have) and even took a couple of the worse-for-wear dress-ups home from kinder to fix!

My sewing space is still as disorganised as when I started my holidays!!  I'll get to it one of these days.

I have done lots of cooking (some of which has been described as "disgusting" by my daughter - at least Trev has appreciated it).  We've visited the local farmers market for the first time and I have some yummy leeks to cook and delicious pink-eye potatoes to eat with butter and mint.

Autumn has hit Hobart in a big way - and we're only 2 days in.  I really want to knit!  So I've found the correct needles and am about to cast on a Tiny Tea Leaves cardigan for Matilda.  And maybe enjoy a cuppa and some chocolate cake before the childcare pick-up!!

I also picked some more of our tomatoes from the garden.  I'm hoping we get some more sunny weather soon, otherwise it'll be green tomato chutney central at our place!!  I think Trev and I'll have some bruschetta as an entree to dinner tonight.  I'm also planning on making this too (with home-grown zucchini received from a friend).

Crap Cake made by Crap Wife!

It was Trev's birthday on Tuesday and I'd promised to make him a Czech Honey Cake. We discovered this delicious cake in 2004 whilst touring around Europe and haven't come across anything similar since.

Thanks to a google search I was able to discover that it's called Medovnik and seems to be an eastern European thing because some claim it to be Russian Honey Cake or even Polish Honey Cake. Anyway, I ended up settling for a recipe from here and forging ahead!

It was time consuming. Make the honey biscuit layers, let them cool, make the filling and refrigerate until it sets (which never happened), cut the bisuits and make the cake then leave it to go soggy for a couple of days before eating.

And the Crap Cake / Crap Wife title is because I kept forgetting I was making the cake. Trev kept having to remind me "What are you going to do with these huge biscuits you've left lying around the kitchen?" , "What's this sour cream stuff doing in the fridge?", etc, etc.

Anyway, the sour cream filling was ultra runny so the cake kept leaning perilously to one side and most of the sour cream ended up running off the plate and all over the kitchen benches. And the recipe asked for 1 litre of sour cream but I was struggling to try and keep a third of that in the cake!

Anyway, we ate it on Tuesday and it was pretty yummy even if it didn't look very pretty. I found another recipe for this cake that has a condensed milk and honey filling so I might try that one next time (if there ever is a next time!).

Happy Birthday Trev!

Cheescake, Buttercup & Hoodies

Trev made the most delicious baked New York cheesecake on Thursday night. It was meant to be covered in lashings of whipped cream but it looked to good to cover up (we just had the cream on the side)!

We don't eat baked cheesecake every day - it was to help celebrate my sister-in-law's birthday. I made her a buttercup bag - my first ever bag! It was pretty straight forward and only took one night (plus some hand sewing in front of Play School the next day). She requested midnight blue, chocolate or charcoal - but this really jumped out at me at Spotlight so she ended up with a Cactus Shot Silk Dupion bag instead!!

I also finished knitting a pair of matching hoodies for my kids - now to force myself to sew them together!! They are knitted in Sean Sheep Beulah using their free pattern.

Hope you've all had a great weekend! Ours has been busy - with lots of visits from friends, my brother staying and general weekend stuffing about!!

First Harvest!

Look what we grew (it's beetroot)!

Look what we made (it's soup)!

Yummy (and a bit messy). Recipe here - recommended!

There's a 4 year old living at my place now!

Matilda had her birthday today! It was perfect weather for a winter party at the local 'sandy' playground.

She picked out a cake (which I made - thanks to the local French patisserie which hire out cake tins),

She and her friends played pass the parcel, and ate lots of party food (and Kelvin helped)!

The highlight of the party for her was the treasure hunt we'd organised - especially for pre-school kids that can't read yet! It involved photos and some helpful adults and lots of running about by the kids.

The highlight for Trev's uncle was the semi-naked lady leaping from the cake draped in nothing but a ribbon!!

Happy Birthday my beautiful, strong willed girl, who knows her mind and stands her ground!!

Looking forward to a long weekend Monday and perhaps some crafting too.

Advent Day 3 - The Eating!

Well the Baileys, Coffee and White Chocolate fudge was a success! Here's a picture of it wrapped and ready to give to Matilda's music teacher. Do you think I can find a link to the recipe - no, but it was in The Baileys Lounge somewhere (or I could email it to you if you need it!!).

The savoury toast was a hit with the adults at the Christmas Party - the kids were too interested in the donuts and smartie biscuits and marshmallows to eat the savoury toast. They don't know what they're missing out on!

And finally, the banoffee pie was delicious and is now all gone thanks to the SIL and her man. Find the recipe over here - you won't be sorry!!

Advent Day 2 - Overwhelmed Already!

I'm feeling overwhelmed by Christmas already!

I have spent this evening putting the kids to bed, doing the grocery shopping, cooking savoury toast for Matilda's music break-up party tomorrow morning, making Baileys & White Chocolate fudge for the music teacher and the beginnings of Banoffee Pie for our regular Thursday family dinner tomorrow night.

And now, I'm off to tidy the sewing room and change the sheets on the guest bed as the Mother-in-Law is coming to stay tomorrow night.

How is it that I can forget that December is coming and two days in feel so busy with everything that needs to be done! Oh well, it'll be over soon enough and it'll be summer and we'll be on holidays and all will be well with the world...

Blogtoberfect - Day 9 - I like your old stuff better than your new stuff...

I bought this book...

and was disappointed by the roll out fondant and pack mix instructions - so I bought this one...

and all is well with the world!

PS. A fabulously generous giveaway over at Lila Tuella - go check it out for your (quite remote - 1 in 600+) chance of winning a jelly roll, layer cake and patterns from her lovely new fabric.